B4f: Plants need minerals

Candidates should appreciate that a balanced diet contains minerals and vitamins. The actual amounts needed are small but without them our health will suffer. Plants also need minerals and without them their growth will suffer. The survey of the contents of ‘plant foods’ provides the opportunity to use ICT sources and tools to collect secondary data.

Explain how minerals are taken up into root hair cells by active transport.

Root hair cells have carrier molecules on their cell membranes. These pick up mineral ions and move them across the membrane into the cell against the concentration gradient. Active transport needs energy from respiration to happen.